Bettei Otozure

WOW! This was the first Ryokan Onsen that I stayed in and I was blown away by the lodging, the amazing staff, and the food. I say lodging because my ryokan has as much square footage as my home—a balcony, an outdoor onsen, shower and changing area, two separate toilet rooms, an open configurable area with kitchen, dining area, living room area, and sleeping area. They provided a yukata and a cloth purse that I wore for meals in the restaurant, and pajamas for relaxing in the accommodations. Every corner of the room and the ryokan was thoughtfully decorated—flower arrangements, ceramics, pictures, and so on. Happy hour each evening was a relaxing affair in the low-key bar area. Our tuxedo-clad host was efficient and friendly. Guests have a choice of "American" or Japanese breakfast. I tried each. "American" breakfast is much different from what we'd have in the USA, but you won't get the tasty Umeboshi plum or Japanese pickles provided with the Japanese breakfast. I found that both choices were far too much for me. On two days I opted instead to get a pastry from the bake shop and eat in my room. The kaiseki was fabulous. I was with a group (10 total) so we dined in our own room each night. Each night had a different menu. If you want to get an idea of what the experience was like, see the photos I posted for each of the kaiseki courses we had on the first night. Thanks to Head Chef Junichi Takeda for the wonderful meals and to Otani-san for being such a gracious and wonderful host.

If I could give this place 6 stars I would. We booked a Type A room which included dinner in both the Teppanyaki restaurant and the Kaseike restaurant. Both were Michelin star quality, we had breakfast which was just as outstanding. Our room, 201, with its own hot tub was a beautiful respite from exploring the surrounds. There is a shrine about a ten minute walk from town that is out of this world. Then There is the staff which were all excellent. But the standouts were, Mikki and Wanami who looked after us beautifully. Wearing Kimonos in the ryokan was fun, there are plenty of restaurant choices outside the hotel too but we never contemplated that as an option. This ryokan is outstanding and I will be referring all of my friends to visit here.

While there are very nice places to stay when venturing South (beyond Hiroshima), there is a comparative dearth of top luxury ryokans. Bettei Otozure is one of the exceptions. While not quite up to the standards of the best of the best (i.e., Gora Kadan, Asaba, Takefue), it's not priced to the stratosphere like those places, either. As others have mentioned, Bettei Otozure was formed as a result of Otani Sanso's many years of (property and room) expansion, resulting in a need for a smaller, more intimate property for the discerning clientele seeking a more private experience. Otozure has 18 rooms, meaning it's dwarfed by its sister property. But fear not - there are corridors connecting the two ryokans, but only guests staying at Otozure are allowed into Otozure itself, meaning you'll get the best of both worlds if you stay there. We stayed 3 nights in an "A Type" Suite, which one of the highest category rooms at Otozure. It's 82m² in size, which is good but not great, but it's partially made up for by virtue of its 32m² balcony. The Suite is of a semi open plan variety - the bedroom is in its own area, but there isn't a wall/door that separates it from the living room... not good if one person is trying to take a nap while the other attempts to get some work done. Otherwise, it's all good. The furnishings are contemporary Japanese - it's not a traditionally decorated ryokan, which is a plus or minus, depending on your tastes. The A Type Suite also had dual vanity/sinks, as well as an open-air Onsen hot springs bath, which we find a prerequisite for a ryokan (or at least a higher category room at one) to be considered a luxurious one. Food is very high quality, and leans heavily towards seafood, given that Otozure is in close proximity to the Sea of Japan, where there is an abundance of very nice fish, including Fugu (blowfish), Tilefish, Sea Urchin, Conger Eel and Stonefish - many of them real delicacies. They are all wonderfully prepared, flavored and garnished in various and unique ways, and are beautifully presented. If there's a slight knock on the Otozure cuisine, in comparison to other ryokans the overall quantity of the food is less - in many cases, we had to make calculated decisions on what to leave on the plate for fear of getting too full to continue eating. Not at Otozure. If you have a hearty appetite, you might potentially feel a tad unfulfilled. Also, the presentation is not as elaborate at Otozure. For instance, for the Hassun/Sakizuke (i.e. appetizer) courses, most ryokans would serve up a variety of small dishes, but in Otozure it's one dish. Nitpicky, perhaps, but I can't help but think that this is one area where they do cut corners. Similarly, desserts are far less elaborate. For two of our three Kaiseki meals (we went all Kaiseki), we got fruit, and only fruit. Now, I love high quality fruit as much as the next person, but that's not exactly something I necessarily visit ryokans for. Give me something unique. And if it's